Ask Real Astrologers: Did I Miss the Career On-Ramp?

This week’s question comes from Stan in California:

My finances are shot, I’m collecting unemployment, and I have no interest in getting my license to start my own private practice in clinical psychology, as I have “burned out” on being a clinician. I want to make a shift to academia for the intellectual stimulation and challenge and be in a place where I can teach. I know I have the ability and experience and that I need to refresh my knowledge base. Yet, in the last six months, I don’t feel like I’ve done enough, read enough, or retained enough to feel to feel as knowledgeable and as confident in an interview as I felt when in grad school. All I know is that I don’t feel like I’m making progress. Have I missed a sign post and thus headed in the wrong direction? I feel that there are some positive energies in play, yet I don’t feel that I have been able work with them. What am I missing?

Pat’s response:

Stan, first let me say hello to a fellow Aquarius/Rising Aquarius! Second, I can tell you that your natal chart indicates an innate talent for psychology, and you can have a powerfully transformational effect on your clients. In fact, you might even be a little scary for some people, as you can see deeply into their psyche.

This also means, however, that you can burn out easily, as you may have difficulty keeping your own psychic boundaries intact. I would say, off the top of my head, that your best solution is daily physical exercise. This will help you blow off the psychic clutter than you pick up from confused and wounded people.

If you’ve seen your chart, you may know that the rare conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune is taking place right on your Ascendant. This alignment is opening doors on deep healing. As you probably know from your work, this can be a painful process, and in your case, it is going to continue for the rest of the year. I don’t think you will be able to see your way clearly until this process is over. By next January, you will have a much better idea of your direction, and you’ll also have Jupiter in your first house to help you find great opportunities for advancement.

Aquarius is the sign of the future, and many of us are ahead of our time. I believe that your unique role will be in finding new perspectives on human psychology that will help heal humanity, starting with yourself. One of the topics I’ve written about extensively is the wound between male and female energies on the planet. You have a close conjunction of Venus and Mars in your first house, and Uranus (your ruler) currently is transiting these planets. Uranus is the Awakener, so I believe that you will be awakened to the dual nature of this energy in everyone, and this new information somehow will be of great use to you in your practice.

The very best of luck to you, and thanks for writing!

Neith’s response:

Stan, as Pat noted Jupiter-Chiron and Neptune have just crossed your Ascendant and are now in your first house. The other transiting planet in your first house is Uranus in Pisces, currently stationing at 26? Pisces preparing to come back over your natal Mars-Venus conjunction. This is a great deal of activity in your first house stressing the possibility of doing a major overhaul of your image among other things.

Your natal Mars-Venus conjunction is also the tip of a Yod, or Finger of God, with Pluto in Leo in your sixth house sextile the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Libra in your eighth. This pattern pulls together the elements that make you an excellent psychologist from compassionate Pisces to transformative Pluto and to have Uranus about to make its second pass over the tip, it makes complete sense to me you feel the need for change. The third and final pass will come during the first three months of 2010.

It is likely Neptune crossing your Ascendant has obscured matters because Neptune is extremely good at that. My recommendation would be to see if you can sort through the mish mash of expectations, both yours and those of others, over the next few months and see if you can work with those that put you, the nurturer, first. This is all part of an ongoing theme in your chart where Neptune and Uranus are pulling you in different directions. I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of nurturing the nurturer but this is my sense of what’s needed now.

Perhaps when Jupiter moves back into your twelfth house at the end of July and reduces the cacophony in your first house, it will be easier to find your sign post. Jupiter is pretty darn loud at times.

Best of luck in finding your way into academia!

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3 thoughts on “Ask Real Astrologers: Did I Miss the Career On-Ramp?”

Hi, this question really resonated with me but in a different direction. I am an academic seriously considering re-training as a psychotherapist but am wondering if being in my late thirties is too late for the shift. These seem to be really potent times, with people questioning their place in the world.

Thank you Pat and Neith for providing a larger perspective. I do in fact feel pulled in two drections–one in service of myself and the other in service to others. The key will be seeing the direction that allows both to ocurr with an emphasis on nuturing myself, as you wisely pointed out Neith.

Physical exercise has indeed been a refuge over the past year — early morning runs have provided the solitude needed to process images of the past and present and shake off the “psychic clutter.” There is, in fact, healing that needs to occur related to my career choice, even a letting go of how I imagined life would be at this stage–a letting go of my disappointment in both myself and others.

Looking forward to the lifting of the fog and the silencing of the din.

I do not think that being in your late thirties is too late for making the shift at all, especially if you feel and think you can make a difference in people’s lives. Having the additional years of life experience as you enter a clinical program is a plus in my book. The flip side, as you are no doubt aware, is how your period of re-training will impact your financial situation. (My head may be in the clouds, but my feet don’t stray far from home.)

And I agree, these are indeed potent times, especially for relationships. Some will fall by the wayside, just as others will grow richer and stronger. Changes are afoot, life is in flux.